ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -The Texas Rangers placed outfielder David Murphy on the 15-day disabled list Thursday with a sprained right knee.
Murphy, who leads AL rookies with 74 RBIs and 114 hits, is expected to miss two to four weeks. An MRI on his injured knee revealed a sprained posterior cruciate ligament.
Texas also purchased the contract of outfielder Jason Ellison from Triple-A Oklahoma before its game against the New York Yankees and transferred left-hander A.J. Murray to the 60-day disabled list. Murray has been out since June 4 with a strained left rotator cuff.
Murphy was hurt in a home-plate collision with Yankees catcher Ivan Rodriguez in the second inning of Texas’ 5-3 loss Wednesday night. Swelling had gone down by Thursday, and Murphy was thankful there was no torn ligaments.
“Everything seems as positive as it can be,” said Murphy, who also was sporting a black eye from contact with Rodriguez’s shin guard on the slide. “Hopefully in three or four days I can tell a difference and then be able to start running in a week or so. I’m acting like it will be two weeks because I want to get back out there as soon as possible.”
The play at the plate happened so fast that Murphy was left with no option but to plow into Rodriguez. Both players left the game with knee injuries, but Rodriguez was only expected to miss Thursday night’s start before returning to the lineup.
“If I knew I was going to hurt my knee I would have gone around him or run him over,” Murphy said. “The ball arrived in enough time to where I could have let him tag me. It’s not like I really had a chance to be safe. But in split-second situations like that, you don’t really have time to decide.”
The 29-year-old Ellison was batting .242 with two homers, 44 RBIs and 14 stolen bases in 114 games for Oklahoma. He has a .251 average with eight homers and 33 RBIs in 335 big league games with San Francisco, Seattle and Cincinnati.
Ellison can play all three outfield positions and has the speed to give the Rangers a pinch-running option. Rookie Brandon Boggs will get most of Murphy’s at-bats in left field.
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